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Indigenous Peoples Day

On June 21st, Canadore College is proud to be celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. Being unaware of the specifics of Indigenous Peoples Day, I spoke to Canadore summer student Cody Sackaney for some clarification.

Indigenous Peoples Day is a day of celebration and recognition for all Indigenous people across Canada. Indigenous culture is centered out on this day and celebrated while the history behind it is honoured with different events happening across the country. Indigenous Peoples Day is especially important to Indigenous People because of the simple fact that it is recognized and celebrated all over Canada.

Pow Wow’s are a big part of Indigenous culture, and they come in many forms with a long list of teachings. However, the main ideal for forming a Pow Wow is that it is a celebration of life. “We get together and celebrate through song and dance. It is a safe space with a friendly environment that offers many teachings that one can learn,” said Sackaney. Some people dance for those that simply are unable to dance; like the ill or the dead, whereas others dance for the creator.

Being that it is Pride month as well, I had to ask Cody about two-spirited people, and how they operate during events such as these where the options for male and female dance styles seemed very binary-specific to me.

“When it comes to two-spirited people, to my own understanding they can choose whatever dance style they choose that fits them. Because they are two-spirited and they have that right. As Indigenous people, we’ve always known about two-spirited people and have always accepted that person for whoever they may be. When it comes to two-spirited people in our culture, we view that as a blessing, as an honour, a gift, that one possesses. After all we are all human beings!” – Cody Sackaney.